Cause Analysis of Precipitation in Cell Culture Flasks - Metal Supplements

 There are many problems when using cell culture flasks to culture cells, such as cell non-adherence, cell contamination, cell death, etc. Among them, precipitation in cell culture flasks is also a common situation, which may be related to metal supplements.

Metal ions such as copper, iron, and zinc are required for cell growth and are important supplements to serum-free media. The absence of other serum components in the culture system may lead to the precipitation of these metals, creating a toxic environment for the cells. At higher pH (generally >8), carbonate and hydroxide ions and copper ions, phosphate and hydroxide ions and iron ions, carbonate, phosphate and hydroxide ions and zinc ions , hydroxide ions and magnesium ions are easy to form insoluble precipitates; under oxidative conditions, copper and zinc are more likely to precipitate, which is the precipitate we see in cell culture flasks.

So how do we avoid the precipitation caused by metal supplements? We can add iron-binding protein to transfer protein, or add buffer to avoid changes in osmotic pressure, and add mannitol or pyruvate to the medium to bind peroxidation. Hydrogen to reduce oxidative stress as much as possible.

In short, if there is precipitation in the cell culture flask, don't panic, analyze and find out the cause, and formulate corresponding measures can greatly reduce the appearance of precipitation and ensure the good growth of cells.